What’s this all about, then?
author
Ben
9 December 2018
What is content marketing, inbound marketing and on-demand marketing?
If we’re gonna be your inbound, on-demand and content marketing agency, then it stands to reason we should define what they are.
So, what is content marketing?
Content marketing is about providing useful content that people love, so that they give you something in return – their custom. This content comes in the form of blogs, social media, newsletters, videos, white papers – essentially, any way you can offer problem-solving, interesting information to your target audiences.
Content marketing is also anticipatory: it works out the needs of its target audience and then provides content to satisfy those needs.
Take Pete’s Plumbing Emporium. Pete makes educational quick-tip YouTube videos on fixing clogged u-bends. He promotes his 25%-off summer deal on social media (“Get a plumb deal all summer long”). And he emails his customers with money-off coupons, redeemable should they use him again.
Top marks, Pete!
Now let’s take Paul’s Plumbing Pitstop. Paul advertises in the Yellow Pages.
And, er, that’s it.
Sure, he knows about the internet, but that’s for cat videos, not business. And anyway, his elderly customers can’t tell a computer from a calculator. Or so he thinks.
Which means when it comes to winning new business and engaging with a modern audience in a modern way, Pete’s pipping Paul to the post every time.
“But if you teach someone how to fix a clogged u-bend, they won’t need a plumber!” we hear you say.
Except they will. Pete’s gained the trust of his audience. So that when the real plumbing problems come along, the ones that can’t be fixed on YouTube, Pete’s Plumbing Emporium will be everyone’s first choice.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is all about the law of attraction. Unlike interruptive traditional forms of media, such as TV and radio, inbound marketing puts the focus on being so darn fabulous that people are attracted to you – so you don’t have to go chasing them.
You’ve seen those people at parties, right? The ones with the Ryan Gosling looks, Colgate smiles and whip-smart repartee. The ones who draw the crowds, the laughter, the love.
The People Magnets.
Well, that’s exactly what a great inbound strategy turns your brand into: a magnet to which people are inextricably drawn.
So, how do you achieve this? An online search for inbound marketing will quickly lead you to the inbound funnel or flywheel, which talks of attracting, engaging and delighting people, turning them from prospects into customers. Which is all well and good, but here at Turncoat, we like to make messaging more relatable, so we’ve flung the funnel aside and come up with…
The Turncoat Proposal.
The Turncoat Proposal reimagines businesses as people looking for their ideal life-long partner, and reimagines their target audiences as those potential partners.
And what’s the best way to attract a partner? By sprucing yourself up, hitting the gym, buying nice clothes, being fascinated by what your partner has to say… basically, by turning yourself into the Best Possible You™.
Our Turncoat Proposal helps you engage with your audiences/life-long partners at every step of the Proposal process. From planning your night out (strategy development) and getting flirty (content marketing) to popping the question (converting prospects to clients) and being happily married (post-sales service, remarketing), our Proposal will turn you into a People Magnet to make even Ryan Gosling jealous.
Find out more about the Turncoat Proposal on our services page.
What is on-demand marketing?
On-demand marketing recognises that many businesses don’t need a whole roster of marketing agency staff – designers, copywriters, account managers, videographers, etc. – at their disposal as part of an ongoing retainer contract.
Instead, on-demand marketing allows them to ditch that full-service marketing agency, whose bloated overheads are reflected in their hourly rates (£86 an hour, on average), and find a more agile way of working. One that still produces great work but that doesn’t make your CFO cry into his cappuccino.
So, why might you use on-demand marketing?
Well, simply put, you may not have the need or budget to maintain an ongoing marketing retainer. A retainer that, thanks to the aforementioned rate of a typical agency, is burned through quicker than a bar tab at the Turncoat Christmas party.
Instead, you might prefer paying for flexible, immediately accessible marketing services only when you really need them.
Or maybe you have your own in-house marketing team but don’t have the full range of skills required to complete your goals. You might have a designer but no copywriter. A videographer but no editor. A social media manager but no marketing strategist.
An on-demand marketing agency can plug those skill-gaps, quickly, effectively and relatively inexpensively. And, once the project’s done, you can tell them to bugger off until you need them again.
Essentially, on-demand marketing is about the customer having more control and flexibility over their marketing spend.
Through our creative collective, we provide marketing services on an as-and-when basis, only bringing in members of the collective relevant to the task at hand. This means our business partners aren’t subsidising a studio-full of creatives by paying exorbitant hourly rates.
Instead, they’re getting agency-quality work without the agency price tag. And that’s why we think on-demand marketing is set to become in-demand marketing.